USPTO Patents Application 10762869

(19)

Europaisches Patentamt
European Patent Office
Office europeen dcs brevets

(12)

(43) Date of publication:

13.06.2001 Bulletin 2001/24

(21) Application number 001 19938.9C

(22) Date of filing: 13.09.2000

■till!

(H) EP 11 107100 M

EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(51) Int CI 7: G06F 3/033

(84) Designated Contracting
ATBECH CY DE OK ES
MCWLPTSE

States:

*FI FR GB GR IE IT U UJ

(71)

Applicant: Siemens-Elema AB
171 95 Solna 1 (SE)

Designated Extension Si
AL LT LV ftflK RO SI

ates:

(72)

Inventor: Gustafsson, Ulla
144 32Rdnnlnge(SE)

(30) Priority: 02.12.1999 SE

9904380

(54) Method and apparatus for selecting a software Item using a graphical user interface

(57) A method of permitting a user selection of a
Software Item, from a computer accessible collection of
Software items employs suitably configured computer
hardware to perform the steps of:

a) providing a graphical user interface (12) on a
computer display as a preferably globate grid (13)
having a plurality of grid lines (14,15) and a corre-
sponding plurality of Identifiers (16-22), each being
in visual correspondence with a different grid-line,
and wherein the grid-lines intersect at grid nodes

(23), each one of which being associated with a link
to a Software Item related to the Identifiers (21,18)
of the intersected lines and locatable by an under-
lying computer program using the associated link;

b) registering a user selection of one or more grid
nodes (23); and

c) processing within the underlying computer pro-
gram the link associated with each of the one or
more grid nodes (23) of the registered user selec-
tion to locate the Software Item.

e

no. 2

Printed by Jouve, 76001 PARIS (FR)

BEST AVAILABLE COPY

1

EP 1 107 100 A1

2

Description

[0001 ] The present invention relates to a graphical us-
er interface (GUI) and in particular to a method and ap-
paratus for selecting a Software Item from a collection
of Software Items using the GUI.
[0002] As used herein the term "Software Item" shall
mean a piece of data, for example the contents of a da-
tabase field or an Internet web page, which when proc-
essed by a computer program provides a sensible (i.e.
detected by sight or sound) output conveying informa-
tion to a user; or a piece of software coding, for example
a program sub-routine or an executable program, which
when run causes a computer system to perform in a par-
ticular manner; and the term "Identifier" shali mean a
visual prompt which when displayed on a computer
screen provides to a user a graphical metaphor for the
type, the content or the function of a Software Item.
[0003] The use of computers to access and retrieve
items of information from data collections is ever in-
creasing. Particularly commercially interesting is the
use of computers by consumers to access product in-
formation which is increasingly provided via the Internet
or via product catalogue databases, supplied for exam-
ple on CD-ROM. The ease with which a user can locate
a relevant item of Information will inevitably Influence the
user's interest in seeking product information, possibly
the user's perception of the manufacturer and product
and even a user's purchase decision. It is therefore par-
ticularly important to provide a user with access to rele-
vant product Information in a rapid and intuitive manner.
[0004] Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are well
known mechanisms by which users can Interact with
computers using Identifiers, such as icons or labels, for
desired operations. It Is known to provide a GUI having
Identifiers in the form of icon images of products within
a product range, sometimes even set against a back-
ground depicting the physical operating environment of
those products. In the medical field, for example, icon
images of intensive care equipment available from a
manufacturer may be displayed in their correct positions
relative to a background depicting an intensive care
room or operating theatre. Selecting an Icon, for exam-
ple by using a computer mouse or other known pointing
device, will typically reveal a second tier of the interface,
for example a scroll-menu listing, showing what Infor-
mation is available for user selection and subsequent
viewing, the user is then required to make a further se-
lection from this menu, for example again by using a
computer mouse, before the information of the selected
Software Item is displayed. With this type of GUI a user
cannot see more than one tier of the interface at a time
and cannot see if an analogous Software item associ-
ated with one product is available for another product
within the displayed, iconised product range. Moreover,
in order to select a Software Item at least two user se-
lections are required.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present inven-

tion there is provided a method of permitting user selec-
tion of a Software item from a computer accessible col-
lection of Software Items by means of a GUI in the form
of a grid in which each grid line forming the grid is visu-

5 ally related to its own Identifier. Each grid node, or a col-
lection of grid nodes, is associated with a link to a unique
Software Item, such as the contents of a database
record field or an Internet Web page, represented by
Identifiers of the intersecting grid lines forming the node.

w These links are processable by an underlying program
to retrieve the associated Software Items.
[0006] In this manner the available Software Items are
intuitively accessible through a visual correlation Iden-
tifiers, guided by the grid lines, and can be selected in

is only one user operation through the selection of a grid
node.

[0007] In one embodiment the grid lines are divided
into two sets with each line of one set disposed to inter-
sect the lines of the other set only once and with the two

20 sets mutually arranged in a flat or a globate grid to pro-
vide links to Software Items identified by two Identifiers.
[0008] According to a second aspect of the present
invention there is provided a computer program product
loadable into a computer memory and comprises soft-

25 ware code portions adapted to cause the performance
by the computer of the method according to the first as-
pect of the present invention.
(0009] Exemplary embodiments of the present inven-
tion will be described with reference to the drawings of

30 the accompanying figures, of which:

Fig. 1 shows an example of a grid GUI for operation
according to principles of the method of the present
invention.

35

Fig. 2 shows a further example of a grid GUI for op-
eration according to principles of the method of the
present invention.

Fig. 3 shows an operational flow diagram of a com-
puter programmed with software code portions of a
program product according to the present invention.

Fig.4 shows a further example of a grid GUI for op-
45 eratlon according to principles of the method of the
present invention to select program code Software
Items.

[0010] Considering now Fig. 1 , a flat grid GU1 1 of a
so computer system is shown for a collection of Software
Items providing information on a medical product range.
This collection may be available remotely at a manufac-
turer's Internet web-site, locally in a database supplied
to a potential customer and recorded on a computer
55 readable medium, or a combination of the two. The grid
is defined by an intersecting arrangement of a horizontal
set 2 and vertical set 3 of grid lines and has arranged
about its periphery icons 4-10 as graphical Identifiers

2

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EP 1 107 100 A1 4

associated with each of the grid lines. In this particular
example the icons 4-6 of the vertical set 2 of grid lines
indicate product type and the Icons 7-10 of the horizontal
set 3 of grid lines indicate information type. It can be
seen from the Fig. 1 that here a user can access Soft-
ware Items concerning animated presentations (icon 7);
training requirements (icon 8); costs (icon 9) and serv-
ice/rnaintenance provisions (icon 1 0) for ventilators/an-
aesthesia machines (Icon 4); heart monitors (icon 5) and
home care systems (icon 6). In this manner the user is
presented with a visual overview of the Information
available for selection, A Software Item, for example re-
garding the costs 8 for the heart monitoring systems 5,
can also be intiutlvely selected In a single operation by
selecting the appropriate Intersection of the associated
grid lines, that is to say node 1 1 . The user may conven-
iently make a selection by dragging a cursor 12 to an
area of the computer screen defined by a desired grid
node using a known user interface such as computer
keyboard cursor keys, a touch screen or a computer
mouse and then confirming a selection, by for example
clicking a mouse button or pressing "ENTER" on the
computer keyboard.

[0011] The GUI has associated with this node (and
indeed every node) a link which, In the case of Internet
accessible Information, is processable by the user's web
browser program, such as the commercially available
Netscape™ Navigator or Microsoft™ Explorer, to locate
the selected Software Item and present its Information
for the user. Optionally the GUI may be adapted to per-
mit multiple node selections so that groups of Software
Items may be located and the information displayed to
a user* Additionally or alternatively multlpJe node com-
binations may also have associated with them a unique
link in the manner of the single nodes discussed above.
Selection of all grid nodes down a column or along a row
may be facilitated by selecting the appropriate icon 4,5
or 6 and 7,8,9 or 10 respectively. The information cor-
responding to each Software Item associated with each
node of the row or column may be then displayed at
once. Alternatively a new piece of information corre-
sponding to a Software Item Identified by a link associ-
ated with the particular combination of selected nodes
may be displayed. The underlying link may be an indi-
rect link to a Software Item, In that selection of a grid
node presents the user with a second tier selection such
as a further GUI as described above for Fig. 1 or below
for Fig. 2 containing appropriate iconised Identifiers or
even a scroll menu.

[001 2] Considering now Fig. 2, an alternative compu-
ter GU1 12 is shown which may be substituted for that
of Fig. 1 and which is, for illustrative purposes, adapted
to provide user access to the same Software Items and
In the same manner as described with respect to Fig. 1 .
The grid 13 is here arranged to represent a globe with
grid lines associated with product type represented by
lines of longitude 14 and grid lines associated with in-
formation type represented by lines of latitude 15, Tex-

tual labels 16-22 are provided as Identifiers which here
indicate that a user has access to Software Items con-
cerning animated presentations ("PRESENTATION"
16); training requirements (TRAINING" 17); costs
5 ("COSTS" 18) and service/maintenance provisions
(TECH SUPPORT 19) for the products ventilators/an-
aesthesia machines ("LIFE SUPPORT 20); heart mon-
itors ("ECG" 21) and home care systems ("HOME
CARE" 22). The arrangement of the Identifiers 16-22
to leads a user to Intuitively select an intersection of two
grid lines In order to access a Software Item related to
the combination of Identifiers made by the Intersecting
lines, for example the selection of the node 23 provides
user access to cost information for heart monitors
« through a link processable by an underlying program.
[0013] It will be appreciated by those skilled In the art
that Identifiers of the GUIs of Figs. 1 and 2 may be in-
terchanged without departing from the Invention. For ex-
ample the textual labels 16-22 of Figure 2 may be ex-
changed or mixed with the icons 4-10 of Figure 1 or the
large area grid nodes 1 1 of

[00141 Figure 1 may be exchanged with the point
nodes 23 of Figure 2 simply by shifting the visual link
between Identifier and grid line (as shown by the broken
line 20' of Figure 2).

[0015] ^ order to adapt a general purpose computer
system to perform the steps of the method of the present
Invention software code is provided which is loaded into
and processed by the computer system to thereby mod-
ify Its behaviour. The flow chart of Fig. 3 provides an
overview of the operational steps implemented on the
computer system when running the software code. A
GU1 1 or 12 Is generated on a computer display (step
24) as described above with respect to Figs. 1 or 2 and
mouse activity of a user is monitored (step 25). During
this step 25 movements of the mouse are translated to
related movements of a cursor on the display and
mouse button activity is continuously monitored for a us-
er activation or "click" Indicating a user selection of a
grid node of the GU1 1,12. When the click is registered
the location of the cursor on the screen is identified and
compared with the locations of the grid nodes. If the cur-
sor lies within a grid node (e.g. node 11 of Fig. 1 ) or with-
in a predetermined number of pixels of a node (e.g. node
23 of Fig. 2) then an identification of a selected grid node
is made (step 26).

[0016J Usefully, the Identification of a node is reported
to the user (step 27) such as by highlighting the area of
the display corresponding to the identified node. This
step 27 may be refined to alternately apply and remove
the highlighting In correspondence with consecutive se-
lections of the same node. Moreover, it may be useful
to record and store Identified grid nodes (step 28) for
subsequent retrieval (step 29) and reporting (step 27).
This serves as a reminder of nodes already Visited* by
the user. This may be particularly usefully employed be-
tween one user session and the next session.
[001 7] If detection (step 30) of a depression of a des-

25

30

35

40

45

50

5 EP 1

ignated computer keyboard key, such as the "SHIFT
key, is made during the click then the steps of monitoring
25, of identifying 26 and of reporting 27 are repeated
until either all of the nodes are selected (step 31 ) or the
SHIFT key is released (step 30). Links to Software Items
are identified and retrieved (step 32) for ail selected
nodes and/or combinations using a lookup table acces-
sible to the computer (e.g. stored within the internal
memory of a computer). Such a lookup table could com-
prise an index of hypertext links, one for each node or
group of nodes, or could comprise an index of pointers,
each one to a different data field of a database record,
and each identifiable by a different associated node.
[0018] The retrieved links are then processed within
the computer to locate the Software Item and access
the information contents of that item (step 33) for sub-
sequent display or other presentation (if In audio format
for example) of the infomnation (step 34) to the user.
[0019] Turning now to Fig. 4 a globate GUI 35 is
shown for use in selecting program code Software In-
formation in a particular example of equipment user
training* Each grid-line of a first set of grid-lines has as-
sociated with it an Identifier 36-39 indicating a different
training area. A second set of grid-lines has associated
with each member line an Identifier 10-43 indicating a
different stage of training. Thus a user can readily see
from the GUI 35 that computer based training relating
to patient safety "SAFETY" 36, equipment operation
"CONTROL Fns," 37, installation and maintenance
"MAINTENANCE" 38 and data manipulation "REPORT
Gen" 3d can be provided in four stages, "ADVANCED"
40, "INTERMEDIATE" 41 ,42 and "BASIC" 43, simpty by
selecting a particular node, such as the highlighted node
44 (Advanced patient safety training) . Previous node
selections (shown generally at 45) are differentiated on
the GUI 35, for example by "dimming" the associated
regions of the computer display, to remind the user of
training Software items already taken and the underly-
ing program may be adapted to ignore a user selection
of these. In this example the underlying program code
which generates and controls the GUI will, in common
with that shown in Fig. 3, include the steps of retrieving
32 and processing 33 a link to a Software Item which is
associated with the selected node 44. In this case how-
ever, the Software Item is a piece of program coding so
that the information presentation step 34 of Fig. 3 will
be replaced by a step of running the relevant piece of
program coding which modifies the computer system
operating the GUI 35 to run a selected training program
such as is common to computer based training.
[0020] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art
that the software code implementing the method of the
present invention may be written so that the steps are
divided between computers of a computer system that
are local to and remote from the user as is necessary
without departing from the invention as claimed. This
may be the case in applications where a personal com-
puter is employed by a user at a local site to access via

100 A1 6

the Internet information or program code that Is stored
on one or more servers at remote sites.

5 Claims

1. A method of permitting a user selection of a Soft-
ware Item, being a piece of data which when proc-
essed by a computer program provides a sensi-
io bleoutput conveying information to a user or a piece
of software coding which when run causes a com-
puter system to perform in a particular manner, from
a computer accessible collection of Software Items
comprising the steps of :

is

a) (24) providing a graphical user interface (1 ;
1 2;35) on a computer display as a grid (1 3) hav-
ing a plurality of grid lines (2,3;1 4,1 5) and a cor-
responding plurality of Identifiers (4-1 0;1 6-22;
36-43), being a visual prompt which when dis-
played on a computer display provides to a user
a graphical metaphor for the type, the content
or the function of a Software Item, each Identi-
fier being in visual correspondence with a dif-

6 f erent grid-line, and wherein the grid-lines Inter-
sect at grid nodes (1 1 ;23;44), each one of which
being associated with a link to a Software Item
related to the Identifiers (S,9;21,1fl;36,40) of
the Intersected lines and locatable by an under-
go lying computer program using the associated

link;

b) (25,26) registering a user selection of one or
more grid nodes (11;23;44); and

c) (32,33) processing within the underlying
35 computer program the link associated with

each of the one or more grid nodes (1 1 ;23;44)
of the registered user selection to locate the
Software Item.

40 2. A method as claimed In Claim 1 characterised in
that the grid is provided as two sets (2,3,14,15) of
spaced apart grid lines arranged with the grid lines
of one set (2;14) intersecting each of the other set
(3;1 5) only once to provide a grid node (11 ;23) vis-

45 ually representing the Software Hern by reference
to the Identifiers (5,9;21 ,1 8) associated with the two
intersecting grid lines.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 characterised in
so that the grid representation is globate (12;35) hav-
ing the two sets of clrcumferentially spaced apart
grid-lines (14,15), one set disposed substantially
perpendicular to the other.

55 4. A method as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 3
characterised In that step a) comprises providing
a grid the grid lines of which consist of a first set of
a plurality of lines each of which represents a differ-

4

7 EP 1 107 100 A1

ent database record of a collection of records and
of a second set of a plurality of lines each of which
represents a different record fields and the grid
nodes of which are associated with a link to the con-
tents of a unique record field identified by the inter- 5
section of a grid line of the first set with a grid line
of the second set.

5. A method as claimed In any of the claims 1 to 4
characterised In that step a) comprises providing io
a grid (1 ; 1 3) one or more nodes of which being as-
sociated with a link to a Software Item accessible

via the internet using a browser program.

6. A method as claimed In any of the claims 1 to 4 1*
characterised In that step a) comprises providing

a grid (36) one or more nodes of which being asso-
ciated with a link to a Software Item comprising pro-
gram coding portions.

20

7. A method as claimed In any preceding claim char-
acterised in that there Is provided a step (27) of
visfcty identifying a previously selected grid node
(46) on the graphical user interface (35) displayed

on the computer display. &

8. A computer program product loadable into a mem-
ory of a computer system comprising software code
portions adapted to cause the performance by the
computer system of the steps of a one of the pre- so
ceding Claims when the product is run thereon.

35

40

45

50

55

5

EP 1 107 100 A1

EP 1 107 100 A1

FIG. 2

EP 1 107 100 A1

EP1 107 100 A1

35

9

EP 1 107100 A1

European Patent
Office

EUROPEAN SEARCH REPORT

Afpl lotion Number

EP 60 11 9938

DOCUMENTS CONSIDERED TO BE RELEVANT

Category

Citation of document with Indication, where
erf relevant p a ssag es

Relevant
Wdalm

CLASSIFICATION OFTHE
APWJCATION pntO.7)

P.A

WO 99 38223 A (ESSEN-MOiLER)
17 June 1999 (1999-06-17)

* page 3, line 31 - page 5, line 21 *

* page 6, line 18 - page 7, line 18;
figures 1,4 *

W0 00 04446 A (K0N1NKLIJKE PHILIPS

ELECTRONICS N.V.)

27 January 2609 (2666-01-27)

* page 5, line 12 - page 7, line 6; figure
2 *

GB 2 301 758 A (IBM)

11 December 1996 (1996-12-11)

* page 1, line 7 - line 10 *

* page 3, line 10 - line 26 *

* page 4, line 4 - line 17; figure 2 *

1-6,8

1-4

G66F3/633

1.6

The present search report has been drawn up for all claims

BERLIN

G66F

Oat* ot compMon of bib ware*

23 February 2001

Taylor, P

CATEGORY OF CFTED DOCUMENTS

X : particularly relevant H taken alone

Y : particularly relevant W combined with another

document of the same category
A : techrotogfawrf background
O : non-written disclosure
P:

T : theory ot principle underlying, the Invention
E : earttef patent Document, but pubfohed on, Of

attar the fling date
O icfccuroent cited in the appSceBon
L ; document ctted for Other reasons

izmm^Shtovm patwiTfafrt^
document

10

>

EP1 107100 A1

ANNEX TO THE EUROPEAN SEARCH REPORT

ON EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION NO. EP 09 11 9938

This annex lists the patent family members relating to the patent documents cited in the sfcove-momioned European search report
The members are as contained In the European Patent Office EDP file on

The European Patent Office b In no way liable for these particulars which are merely given for the purpose of Information.

23-02-2001

Patent document
cited in search report

Publication
date

Patent family
member!?)

Publication
date

W0 9930223

A

17-06-1999

SE
AU
SE

509399 C
1268199 A
9704328 A

25-01-1999
28-06-1999
25-01-1999

A
n

27-01-2000

CP

13-09-2000

GB 2301758

A

11-12-1996

EP
WO
JP
US

0834109 A
9639655 A
10508969 T
5896491 A

08-84-1998
12-12-1996
02-09-1998
20-04-1999

•

i

I

§ For more detafe about this annex : see Official Journal of the European Patent Office, No. 1 2/82

11

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